TWIF (This Week in Fishing) May 7th - 13th

Saturday, May 7th:

I woke up Saturday morning "Gung Ho" wanting to put the kayak on the water. To say that my hopes were dampened would be a horrible play on words but it was true. It was raining again. I went out to the living room and fixed a small breakfast and looked at the weather report. It predicted that the small showers we were having would be done around 8 am. So I went ahead and loaded up the kayak and drove down to Lake Lariat. Only a very slight drizzle was falling when I paddled out from the launch and about 15 minutes into my time it stopped. I made my way along the shoreline casting a 1/32 oz jig with a silver and white tube. It payed off well as I was able to catch a good mixture of fish. One largemouth I caught, the biggest of the morning, had a pretty big cut just behind its spiny dorsal fin. I figure he was able to escape an eagle's or an osprey's talons.

Sunday, May 8th I headed down to Salisbury for Mother's Day. I drove down the night before and "hit the hay" pretty much after I walked in the door. After breakfast this morning I headed out on Leonard's Mill Pond. I was hoping to catch a golden shiner again but didn't get any. Even though I didn't get a shiner I was able to get a good mixture of bass, pickerel and bluegill. (

The first largemouth I caught was 16" long and had to be 3 lbs. I was casting the same tube on that 1/32 oz jig which paid off well since every fish I caught was on the same bait. The last fish I caught this morning was a nice chain pickerel. I made a cast along the shoreline near a small tree top that had fallen into the water. A couple of twitches and a very nice 21" pickerel locked on and the fight was on with loads of fun on the small spinning rod.

On a side note I also spent an hour or a little more today just paddling from one location to another; not in an aimless manner but from one set of GPS coordinates to another. As I have mentioned in previous blogs I used to do a lot of geocaching (link to gc.com). Well another geocacher had placed a series of geocaches, "Gilligan's Island" inspired. I went around and found 5 of them each named after a character from the show. Small containers with a log sheet to sign, but some of the best caches I've done in a long time. It was about the experience and not a bunch of numbers. (But that's a discussion to be had on another blog.)

Monday, May 9th: With the drive down to Salisbury on late Saturday night, and Mother's Day on Sunday, I took a day off from work and stayed a little longer. I had decided to try a new body of water about 15 minutes east of Salisbury called "Adkins Mill Pond." Having read about it on the Maryland DNR website I thought it'd be fun to try a new spot. I put the kayak in around 7:30 and spent about two and a half hours paddling around and casting my little jig. The area was really pretty with the bald cypress trees surrounding the pond.

The pond itself is probably pretty typical for the eastern shore being home to many warm water species like bluegill, black crappie and largemouth. I caught about a dozen, a mix of bluegill and crappie, most of which on the smaller side. As mentioned it's always fun to explore new water and I fully intend to come back. Hopefully the rains will hold off this week so I can get back out later.

Tuesday, May 10th: Tried a private pond on Tuesday that I had tried before. No luck whatsoever casting a jig with various colored grubs. I saw a couple of fish break the surface so I switched to a Rebel Pop R. One fish hit it but alas didn't take it in enough to get hooked. I did do my part environmentally by picking up a few aluminum cans.

If we don't care who will?

Wednesday, May 11th: Given a little time while my son was at swim practice I took to a small pond. I've been pretty successful at this location and today wasn't any different. I used a 1/4 oz jig with a Bobby Garland sexy shad soft plastic. I was able to catch 3 or 4 crappie; smaller ones so I released them to swim again.

Friday, May 13th: With the sun coming out this afternoon I headed to the same small private pond I frequent. I decided to try something different by throwing a spinner bait. I had a white double tail grub as a trailer. Id let it sink a little and then reel it in slowly. One crappie hit it pretty good which really help my week end well. Until next week ... Tight lines!